Newtone Archtop strings?

[Mick-7]

The monels aren’t really comparable to guitars made for electric due to the much lower ferromagnetic property of monel. They make for nice acoustic strings when you want that sound.

I have the Monel 11's on an acoustic-electric, however one reviewer on the website I posted the link to said: "I tried them on a Gibson L50 archtop. Wow, did it growl in the bass after putting them on the L50 - 12 gauge string size. I'm putting them on all my archtops now. Ordering a 13 set to see if I can get even more growl in the bottom end."

[Woody Sound]

I find it interesting that matching strings to an archtop,....especially to get optimum acoustic tone,......is really "bass ackwards".
I've never seen anything written on it before,....maybe it's out there somewhere,......but why not try what i've done several
times before and match your archtop to most any decent acoustic string. You'll save a ton of dough,....and your ears will
thank you!

What i'm talking about is getting rid of those funky, tone robbing metal bridge adjusters!

How lazy we are sometimes,.....that we would give up optimum tone for the convenience of easier bridge height adjustments!
Once we've dialed the prefered bridge height in,.....we pretty much leave it alone anyway,....right? Flattop players get their
action adjusted at the bridge,....and forget about it for the most part. Why should we be any different?

OK,...so we get rid of those metal wheel adjusters,.....but then what? Well,....don't jump so fast,....those convenient wheel a
djusters can help you out!

Use them to dial in the action to your preference,....and take careful measurments of the empty space between the upper and
lower wooden parts of the bridge.

What i do is make a fitted wooden washer in the proper thickness for both the treble and bass side of the bridge,.......to bring
the bridge to the same height as you dialed in with the wheel adjusters. Consider them "Tone Enhancers",....for you won't
believe your ears! If you like woody nuances,.....this is your baby! I haven't even bothered to experiment with other more
traditional archtop strings using this setup,....but i can only imagine it would improve your tone.

I've used maple in the past,....but prefer ebony as i like the density and strength it has,....especially when making a small
part like this that carries some load. (although my maple ones never failed me)

I've only done this to carved topped archtops,....btw,......so with a laminate top you're on your own. The carved tops are where
you're likely to see the best results, however,....in the "acoustic" mode.

I just completed an ebony set last night for my new custom Bill Gagnon 15" Custom DeVant. It is strictly acoustic,......and i
ordered it with a 1 7/8" neck as i play fingerstyle solos mostly and prefer that width.
(Here's a post about it's arrival: Gagnon 15" Custom Acoustic Archtop "Burst" Finally Here! - The Acoustic Guitar Forum )


Anyway,....back to the wooden washers. On some of my installs in the past,....i had to slope the top edge of the washers to
match up with the slope of the upper part of the bridge. On the set of wooden washers i made last night,....there was no
slope needed and i was able to use identical thicknesses for the washers.

I originally recieved the Gagnon guitar with D'Addario set ECG25 light guage flat wounds on it. (XL Chromes).
A decent "woody" tone with the stock metal adjusters,......but simply not bright enough for my ears.

So i soon replaced them with a set of the easy to find locally, and "economical",... D'Addario EJ16 Phosphor/Bronze light
guage acoustic strings. (.012-.053 set) You probably already know these are pretty bright sounding on a solid wood archtop,
.....when used as the guitar "usually" comes.

Stay with me folks..........i know it sounds nuts,......but these sound REALLY good, ....mellow,....and W O O D Y once you
make the washer change! Being roundwounds you'll have to work on your technique to reduce any string noise,......but your
ears will love the tone!

I wish every archtop came with an assortment of different thickness wooden washers to dial in to our preference,....but that's
simply not going to happen. It's a reasonably easy project to get done,.....and totally reversable, btw,......but i doubt you will.

Once you switch to ebony black,...............you'll never go back! (hehe)

Anyway,.....any guitar tech could make you a set if you're not handy,.....at reasonable cost i'd think. It only took me 1/2 hour to
get it done,.....and i'm fussy!

Here are some pics on this new arrival with the change made,......the wait of about 6 months is now over.

That tone robbing metal post is also quite thin,.....which is now eliminaed from any critical function with the use of the
wooden washers. The post is still used however,...but now simply to keep the washers locked in place. It no longer
supports the upper bridge section or transfers string vibrations to the top!

Which do you think is going to transfer a "woody-er" tone to the carved top?

I think I am going to try this soon, when I have some time.

[GuyBoden]

I've used custom gauge Newtone strings on a few instruments over the years, very good quality.

Excellent custom sets for instruments with uncommon 27-32 inch scales. Used on my "Tapping Instrument".

[bananafist]

Late to the party on this one. Somebody asked a while back about using Newtone Heritage acoustic strings as used by Gordon Gilltrap. I've used these for some years now, after talking to GG at a gig, as I have arthritis in my neck and hands. I use 11s sets on my flat-top acoustics except for one, set up to play lead with, on which I use their 10 set. The 10 set is a little less in volume but same sound to my ears, and I've used these to play in a 3 piece (2 gtrs and doghouse bass) for 7 years. Mainly just acoustic, but plugging in when needed. I have three archtops, and use 11s Newtone archtop strings on these, sometimes going down to 10s if my hands are playing up. Two of the archtops were built specifically to work with 11s/10s (a Slaman and a Blind B51A,) the third is a Gretsch 9555. The Newtones are lighter tension and last quite well for me. At least I can keep playing for now. On my teles I use Ernie Ball slinky 9 sets.

[omphalopsychos]

I have the Monel 11's on an acoustic-electric, however one reviewer on the website I posted the link to said: "I tried them on a Gibson L50 archtop. Wow, did it growl in the bass after putting them on the L50 - 12 gauge string size. I'm putting them on all my archtops now. Ordering a 13 set to see if I can get even more growl in the bottom end."

You can also use bronze strings and get this growl. I recommend people to do this with a decibel meter (or something similar) to ensure objectivity in measurement. I have done this and found that monel will get you as much output through a pickup as a set of bronze strings. That’s not to say you can’t play bronze strings on an electric but it requires some adjustment relative to something like nickel plated steel.

[sgosnell]

My new favorite strings are DR Pure Blues. They're definitely round-wound, so if you're looking for something that sounds closer to flats, you may not like them. They're round-core nickel wound, and I really like the sound. I also like the price, $10US per set. I've used various mail-order string sellers, but Sweetwater has low prices and free shipping, so I've been buying strings there.

[GuyBoden]

You can also use bronze strings and get this growl. I recommend people to do this with a decibel meter (or something similar) to ensure objectivity in measurement. I have done this and found that monel will get you as much output through a pickup as a set of bronze strings. That’s not to say you can’t play bronze strings on an electric but it requires some adjustment relative to something like nickel plated steel.

Yes, I agree, bronze strings with a steel core can sound very good with magnetic pickups on an Archtop guitar, if the pickup poles pieces are adjusted for a balanced sound.

[Aiq]

I like them, my last order from the factory was smooth, three sets with shipping less than one set of TIs.

That might have been just prior to the, uh, you know.